Macbeth - Reviews - Daily Telegraph

Last Update: 15 November 20002

Source: Daily Telegraph
15 November 2002
Charles Spencer

Scans by Anne K.

Bean and Bond finally lift the curse
of Macbeth

Though it reads so thrillingly on the page,
Macbeth succeeds remarkably rarely on stage. I have long thought
that the real reason actors are so superstitious about what they
tiresomely describe as the Scottish Play has less to do with the
freak accidents traditionally associated with it and much more
with the large number of rotten performances it has inspired.

Who could forget Peter O'Toole's preposterous
blood-drenched ranting at the Old Vic? And who could possibly
remember Rufus Sewell's dismayingly lacklustre performance, the
last to grace the West End stage?

So it is a relief, as well as a pleasure,
to report that Sean Bean acquits himself remarkable well in the
role, especially since it is 13 years since the actor, best known
as the eponymous star of the television series Sharpe, and as
Boromir in The Lord of the Rings, last trod the boards. He finds
himself in one of the best productions I have ever seen of the
play, directed with a wealth of bright ideas and a real instinct
for theatrical excitement by Edward Hall, son of Sir Peter. And
Samantha Bond proves once again that M's secretary in the Bond
movies is also one of the finest classical actresses of her generation.

The piece is staged in modern military dress,
which makes a bit of a nonsense of all the excellent sword fight
routines, but we'll let that pass. There are terrific sound and
lighting effects for the battle scenes, and Michael Pavelka's
design of a ruined arch, bell-tower and staircase puts on in mind
of John Piper's marvellously ominous watercolours of architectural
ruins.

What Hall and his fine actors most memorably
suggest is that Macbeth is a love story as well as a horror story,
though it is a love that goes grotesquely wrong.

When Macbeth returns to the spooky family
home, laden with fresh honours after success on the battlefield,
the sexual charge between him and his wife is electric. Lady Macbeth
sits astride him on the marital bed as she wills him to regicide,
and initially seems the stronger partner. Lady Macbeth's tragedy
is that she cannot understand the consequences of their actions,
and it tips her into madness; Macbeth's is that he can, but proceeds
nonetheless.

Both production and performances powerfully
suggest the price of evil. As her husband wades ever deeper into
the bloody mire, Samantha Bond's once sensual Lady Macbeth can
no longer bear to be touched by him, and her extreme mental distress
in the sleepwalking scene is pitiable to behold.

Bean, in contrast, memorably suggests a
good man who chooses the wrong path only to find he can't turn
back. There is a homely warmth about his native Sheffield accent,
and in the early scenes his loyalty to Duncan seems entirely sincere.
It's true that Bean could usefully turn up the dramatic heat in
the great soliloquies, but there is no mistaking his commanding
stage presence, his electrifying terror of Banquo's ghost, or
the terrible sense of futility that engulfs him at the end.

There are a host of other fine flourishes
in Hall's production. I have never seen the murder of Lady Macduff
and her children more shockingly staged, while the weird sisters
are sexy auburn-haired sirens who invade Macbeth's troubled mind
like a disturbingly erotic dream.

All credit to Hall and Co. In this gripping,
hurtling-paced production, the curse of Macbeth has been lifted.